The History ofCattle    

Image left: Paleolithic cave painting of Aurochs in Lascaux

The cattle that we see around us in Britain today have all descended from a breed of ancient cattle ("Bos taurus") that roamed Europe before 9000 years ago. They were also used for sport (Bullfighting ), as draught animals, meat, and for all manner of animal derivatives including  fats for candles ( Tallow ), frying, glues, and nowadays coatings for medical tablets and many brands of vitamins. 

The Auroch ( pronounced "ourox" ) was an impressive and mighty beast that was hunted extensively, its ferocity was born from the everpresent danger from predators ( including) man.



image left: Auroch fighting off a Wolf Pack.

These wild cattle formed a part major part of the diet human as well as that of other predators in ancient times, their meat and hides helped ensure the survival of ancient tribes. None of these magnificent Auroch survive,  the last of these truly wild cattle vanished about 400 years ago.
  
In Britain the Celts and their ancestors had formerly hunted these animals for thousands years, however following the Roman invasion great changes began being implemented in Britain as far as the right to hunt on were concerned, as time went by the numbers of Auroch decreased significantly due to loss of viable habitat and over hunting. The Saxon and Norman noblemen went so far as to restrict such hunting to the domain of the wealthy landowners who required that open grazing was left to support the herds, if someone was found to be hunting on land owned by the gentry it could result in hunter being caught and hanged.

By the 1300s no mention is made of these animals still existing in the wild in Britain, so it is assumed that they had been completely extirpated before then.  Some of these magnificent creatures still survived in fast disapearing numbers in wild remote areas of Europe, but as human population and demands for food hides and land increased the Auroch were reduced to one last remaining herd which was located in Poland  

The last herd of wild Aurochs on the planet numbered only 38 animals and were eventually rounded up for their protection into the Jaktorow forest where poaching gradually reduced the number to one remaining animal ( a cow ) which died in 1672.


image right: Auroch Skeleton from Denmark 7500bc  


Mankind had benefitted greatly from the living off the bodies of these magnificent creatures, and it is only human selfishness that has left these animals no safe place to exist in viable numbers. As mankind has continued to grow and claim more space this meant that domesticated cattle had to be kept in enclosed fields and in high densities without ever experiencing the feeling of freedom, freedom to graze where they wanted and freedom to fight for their lives against both man and beast if they have opportunity.

These were remarkable animals whose courage, strength and ferocity had even been revered by Julius Caesar


"those animals which are called uri. (Auroch) These are a little below the elephant in size, and of the appearance, color, and shape of a bull. Their strength and speed are extraordinary; they spare neither man nor wild beast which they have espied. These the Germans take with much pains in pits and kill them. The young men harden themselves with this exercise, and practice themselves in this sort of hunting, and those who have slain the greatest number of them, having produced the horns in public, to serve as evidence, receive great praise. But not even when taken very young can they be rendered familiar to men and tamed. The size, shape, and appearance of their horns differ much from the horns of our oxen. These they anxiously seek after, and bind at the tips with silver, and use as cups at their most sumptuous entertainments."

The Gallic Wars Chapter 6.2


In Religion


























DOMESTICATION OF CATTLE

Cattle/Oxen in agriculture
One of the most popular beef breeds in America identified by a hump between its withers, is an important  descended from an ancient Asian breed ( Bos indicus ). Cattle have been used for a multitude of purposes including sacrifice and religious devotion (" In Ancient Egypt the apis bull was viewed as the incarnation of Osiris the green faced god" ). 

Over the past 2,500 years thinking people have stood up to question the necessity of both hunting and meat consumption.  Cattle/Oxen are the ones that have the longest history of service to man, these pulled the heavy loads such as haywains and carts and formed logging trains of dozens of animals to transport colossal trees and many other heavy loads that we were unable to. 
Before the advent of the heavy horse it was Oxen that pullled the ploughs that tilled our fields and brought bread to our tables, the lack of respect for their contribition to the success of agriculture in Britain and other countries was noted by those such as Plutarch who said:

        "He is truly thankless, and not worthy of the gift of corn, 
 who could,  in a moment, remove the weight of the curved plough,
    and kill his labourer, striking that work-worn neck with his axe, 
that has helped turn the hard earth as many times as the earth yielded harvest".                                    
                           Plutarch (c. 46-120)

Thousands of years ago man learned to herd cattle and keep them in close proximity using stockades and as time went by they gradually perfected the craft of hedgelaying which produced a hedgerow which in effect becomes a living wall  and which is every bit as formidable as a barbed wire fence.

The hedgerow confined the animals to a set paddock to be eventually used as a perpetual living larder without fear of famine and without subjecting oneself to the danger of unnecessarily venturing into the hostile wilderness, thankfully as we have moved on we are not generally in danger these days of being eaten by a pack of wolves, or being trampled underfoot by a mammoth !.

 When our ancestors hunted cattle in the wild with their primitive weapons it would have been a bit more of an even balance and the animals may sometimes have fought us to the death and occasionally, we would rightly lose our own lives. Though man in the ancient past was given no choice but to kill to live, we today do have a choice.  An animals sole purpose in life is not merely to die early and be fed to the human consumer. Cattle have their own battle for existence and try in their own way to enjoy themselves each day,  we have not born this in mind though, as we often deny them the room or ability to socially interact and express their natural instincts.

MODERN LIVESTOCK FARMING

At first glance many modern beef farms just resemble meat producing factories, life for many animals is being fed sometimes unnatural foodstuffs in high density stockyards, this is certainly not the great and natural outdoor life that the animals would willingly choose.

Because of our treatment of other species mankind has suffered greatly following our loss of respect for non-human beings and this has been reflected in how we treat one another within our modern society.  What a valuable relationship we could have had with the natural world, we believe that our divorce from our responsibility as stewards of this planet has taken a devastating toll on the ecosystem,  Farmers and abattoirs in Britain have become rich and fat with the revenue from beef cattle, and benefitted handsomely through the sufferings of these creatures having enjoyed over 3 Billion pounds annual profit before the start of the so called Mad Cow disease disaster that is which led to a ban on exports of beef products.

In your own town you may have witnessed the sorrowful site of Cattle brought into the local market and sold to the highest bidding slaughterhouse, you may have even walked past such unfortunate creatures and not thought a thing, for we are conditioned not too feel sadness at the fate "mere farm animals". please go once again and look at the heading quotation at the top of the page .

HORMONES TO BOOST PRODUCTION.......In recent years there was a European Union Study which investigated the effects of using hormones to stimulate unnatural weight gain in Beef Cattle, it concluded that the consumers who eat beef from hormone treated livestock could be at risk of developing cancer. Hormones are often administered to cattle by way of insertion under the skin behind the ear ( Subcutaneously ). Very often the base hormones used are oestrogen and progesterone which are female sex hormones, and Testosterone the male sex hormone. Growth hormone implants have the effect of causing the animal to put on more meat and less fat without any apparent increase in the food it consumes.

Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks: they're only animals!            Theodor Adorno (1903-1969)

It is estimated that up to 90% of American beef farmers are committed to having the drug administered to their cattle. 

The widespread use of hormones in  United States livestock farming has caused heated controversy in European circles in recent years. One of the six drugs which has been at the centre of this storm is brand named ( "oestradiol" ) and has been considered as highly suspect.  Independent research highlighted that the drug is a complete carcinogen (cancer causing substance ) and if even a small amount is eaten it has the potential to initiate tumours, cancers, and deadly brain diseases.